Carlos Silva Filho, SWANA's 2022 Lawrence Lecturer

Considering the expected population’s growth—around 8.5 billion people in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050—the equivalent of almost three planets could be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles. According to the Global Footprint Network we are consuming natural resources faster than the planet can replenish and current levels show that we would need 1.75 planets Earth to fulfill our needs every year.

Due to such “way of life”, we are now facing a triple planetary crisis: increased pollution, biodiversity loss and global warming, which affects not only the environment but also the health and living conditions of millions of people worldwide, mainly the most vulnerable ones.

Adequate waste management can play a substantial role in mitigating the critical effects of the triple crisis. Waste can be an asset and a resource used by several other sectors and the waste sector is not part of the problem, but the solution to it.